So it happened about three weeks ago…I began to panic about summertime! You know, the 2.5 LONG months of having three active boys at home by myself? Yep, that’s the one! The days were coming of no more quiet household while Zachary slept. No more watching a Netflix show while I ate my lunch. No more running errands leisurely! I began to look at it with dread.
Then it occurred to me that summetime should be fun!! A time of adventure and relaxing. A time of laughter and new experiences. I loved summertime as a kid and I want my kids to have that same feeling about it. So I turned to the internet, of course, where all the smart people post their insanely creative ideas! I found some great ideas and just in case anyone else is dreading summer or looking for some more ideas, check out some of my favorites!
First of all, we came up with our Summer Bucket List. We all sat down and wrote out our ideas of things (common and special) which we thought would be fun. We then put them all on sticky notes so we can move them over as we do them. I’ll post the entire list on another page so you can copy as you want to! Some are highly unlikely but we added them anyway, just to keep our creativity flowing!
Secondly, we came up with a theme for each day of the week. I learned from previous years that I have tried to schedule WAY too much and down to the minute…too stressful for all. So this year, we have our general daily theme and it has been good so far. Here is what we came up with:
Make it Mondays-this is pretty open ended, but we will make something. An art project, a building out of blocks, special kitchen treat, etc.
Take a Trip Tuesdays-why not plan to get out of the house and go do something!
Whatever Wednesdays-we thought of wet Wednesdays but whatever leaves the day up to us completely-maybe we’ll get wet, maybe we’ll go somewhere, maybe we’ll stay in our pjs all day or have a picnic lunch!
Thinking of you Thursdays-do something nice for someone else, make cookies, draw a picture, clean up their yard, etc
Friend Fridays-we are trying to schedule a playdate each Friday and have a friend or two over
For us people who like routine and structure (me, me, me!!!), this at least gives me something to hold on to each day!
Finally, we are doing a little ‘summer school’ time each day. While Zachary sleeps, the big kids and I do 15 minutes of workbook time and 10 minutes of quiet reading. I gotta say, they love this more than I thought! Plus it’s really fun for me to get to play teacher again! 🙂
It has been a week now and you know what I am finding? These kids are pretty fun to be around!